For the many who don't know how to trade and who also average down as their buying tactics after a loss developing on an original purchase entry, here is something you can do. You have a losing original postion. Hold it. Do not add more. This is something you can do. What you are doing is not to add anymore. Now you can watch - and hope if you like. Assuming it was one lot it will normally not kill your account. Close at the end of the session or earlier. Next: digest and learn from this experience of unskilled gambling. Of course the only way to trade is with a successful methodology, tried and tested beforehand (on sim). If you are buying the upmoves and selling the downmoves in a volatile and liquid market, your trading signals are your guide: a buying signal is followed by a selling signal (and a selling signal is followed by a buying signal) and so on. And you only ever trade your correct size relative to your cash/margin holdings.
Did you know you can have a string of small losses that can easily be recouped with one or two relatively large winners? So, why not just get the hell out when you have a small loss? Although I hate Nike, they have the best motto for trading: just do it, damn it!
actually you are lucky, because you experienced the common blowout, the pain is quick and sharp, and it is over in an instant( or a day). However there is the second kind of "blowup", the one due to shit drying up in the markets, strategies no longer working, and you go round and round in search of your own tail for a new one, this kind of blowup will kill u over the long run, as u have no income and ur living expenses escalate, your 10 years of trading income comes to naught and you are far worse off than your peers. that's why i laugh at those who have less than 10 years of trading experience and think they are masters of the art. they have no idea whats coming to them
Well ok you realized you can't make it now what? You don't have the discipline. Most don't. I have the opposite problem and don't pull the trigger often enough. Why because like you many years ago I blew up a big account but I was employed in a high paying sales position so I could easily offset the loss. I will disagree with others and state that discipline can be taught. The military does it all the time. Maybe you can save up some money and make a go at it in the future. Maybe not. It's not the end of the world. It's ok. Less than 10% make in the endeavor so don't beat yourself up. The market isn't going anywhere. It will be here if you decide to return. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
last Friday was pretty diabolical, first it dropped straight down to keep you going (it's going to crash thinking) action was fast, it took only 30m then in the next 2.5 hrs it bounced and dropped (to entice the shorts missing their chances in the first 30m) as soon as shorts gave up, it shot straight down again . Now shorts were seeing red obviously they were correct and they determined not to miss their last chances to ride the crash so they piled in as soon as it started to bounce but it just kept going higher and higher so shorts gave up when it passed the prior high. And then the market plunged down again. Unless you have some notion of the trend was up by looking at daily bar or its an M day by seeing the same pattern many times before, you are most likely to get wrong along the way.
The pretty good advice. At least not add to a loser, not bad, Much better than slaughter down as me and my trading buddies call it.
One last thing. Does anyone stop and realize that the current environment is similar to the Bear Sterns Lehman blow up? What I mean is any hint of EU news and the market surges one way or the other. If you don't believe tune in to any news and watch the DX at the same time. Everything is DX correlated everything, either positive or negative. Merkel makes a comment and wham the market surges one way or the other. It's not going to change until there is agreement.
Too funny I did find myself wondering if the OP hadn't posted similar before. Oh well, the market needs dumb money right? Hopefully this isn't a eye catching post by one of Baron's paid posters. :eek:
If I ever decide to day trade, I will do it like the age old pros do it: I will use 15 minute bars and let the opening be my guidelines for the day whether I will go long or short! That 5 minute stuff is too noisy and nerve racking especially with high volatility securities!